“Semi-staged” is one of the scarier terms that has burrowed its way into the classical music world. Often, it’s a euphemism for “pretentious,” “underfunded” or “lame.”

So it was with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation that I arrived at Roy Thomson Hall on Saturday evening to hear the Toronto Symphony’s “semi-staged” Mozart Requiem. However, I’m happy to report that the performance didn’t deserve any of the nasty adjectives above. Instead, the whole thing was rather pleasant.

Eatock Daily

I'm a composer and writer based in Toronto – and this is my classical music blog, Eatock Daily.

Here you'll find musings and meditations, some reviews and the occasional rant – as well as some of the articlesI've written for Toronto’s National Post and Globe and Mailnewspapers, the Houston Chronicle, the Kansas City Star and other publications.